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Show Wedding Photos A Lasting Investment By Glen L. Ricks Rick's Photo Studio Once your wedding day is over and the tuxedo's been returned, the wedding dress packed away and the decorations are all taken down, all you will have to remember this most momentous of days is your wedding candids. This is one day in your life that should be well recorded. If you have a great set of photographs, you will be able to relive the sparkle and splendor of your day over and over again and to share it with your children. But marriage is a one-time event. And there is nothing as disappointing as not having your wedding pictures turn out. You'll be sorry for the rest of your life if they don't. And if you don't hire a professional photographer to do it the first time, you won't get a second chance. When you choose a professional, make sure you analyze his work closely. There are many photographers in the area to choose from. Many are members of the Intermountain Professional Photographers Association (IPPA), the Rocky Mountain Professional Photographers Association (RMPPA) or Wedding Photographers International (WPI), and merit your consideration. These assoications keep members up-to-date with the latest information and training in their professions. There are also some Certified Professional Photographers (CPP) in the Utah Valley area photographers considered con-sidered to be at the top of their profession. You can identify them in the Yellow Pages. There are also many individuals in the areaa who are not professionals who may do an adequate job. Many are hobbiests who like to shoot an occasional wedding for extra money. Many of them can provide good quality prints, but fall down in posing the subjects of the photographs. A few are trained in posing, and are very good. The key is finding the photographer who is skilled in both. And they can usually be identified by the samples they show you as you shop around for the right individual for your wedding. Here are some things to look for in that search. Posing quality When evaluating a photographers past work, consider the following questions about the quality of poses : Are the poses haphazard, lacking balance and overall togetherness? Does someone other than the bride and groom dominate the photos? Is there distortion? Do faces, hands or clothing look out of proportion to the subjects? Are special effects tastefully done, or is Mom going to think the photos are just out of focus? Continued on page 9 I (Continued from page 8) V ' I Outdoor receptions present the greatest challenges to the wedding photographer, and few photographers have the expertise to do a much better job than you would expect from Uncle Harry with his In- stamatic. If you are planning this type of reception, recep-tion, study the photographer's portfolio for the traditional poses the ceremony, the couple together and individually, couple with parents, bride and bridesmaids, groom and groomsmen, best man and maid of honor, the wedding line, cutting the cake and eating it, the first dance, rings, garter, and throwing of the bouquet. A good photographer will capture all of these moments, the basics of wedding photography, with skill in an outdoor ceremony. Print quality Photography has made great advances over the past 10 years. So if a photographer's sample photos look like . they were taken 10 years ago, consider finding another photographer. The samples you see will be typical of what you will receive. Examine the color of the prints. Do they have a blue of pink overtone? Do all of the nrints match in color and density, or are With a preview, only "sure shots" are taken, the type photographers know the couple will accept. You know what you'll get in advance but this eliminates the chance for creative extra photos. The preview method is the most economical from the photographers standpoint, because of the short time required to produce the product usually about three hours. The prints are packaged in an economical album. The Album Coverage method allows for a set number of 8 by 10 or 5 by 7 photographs in an album. The photographer may or may not provide a set of proofs to select those photos from. The advantage of this plan is you know how many portraits you are getting. These albums are usually a premium product. For example, we offer in our album coverage 40 prints, 8 by 10, in an alum for the couple, with two books of 24 prints, 8 by 10, for the parents. The A la Carte Method is where the photographer takes a number of poses usually 60 to 100 shots and provides you with a set of previews to choose from. You decide which poses and what sizes you want and how much you want to spend. This method can be as expensive, or as inexpensive, as you desire. It is usually accompanied by a minimum order, with the amount of that order used as a deposit. A.n average wedding pacViage takes about four hours to photographs that's for 80 poses. It takes an additional two hours to get the previews ready for the bride and groom to make their selections. Another two hours are required to get the order prepared and packaged for printing. Add two to three hours to retouch the finished photos and mount them in the album once they are returned, and the photographer has spent 11 hours on one wedding more than twice as long as the actual photographing of the event. An economy package, that requires only three hours total time, provides for two hours of photographing the wedding and one hour of getting the prints all sized the same and into the album. But while the cost is considerably less, so is the quality of the photographs. The photographer The final difference in the quality of your wedding photos is the photographer. Some photographers are much more experienced ex-perienced than others. They have a reputation because of their expertise and come with a slightly higher price tag. Overall, however, Utah County photographers only get about half as much for wedding portraits in other parts of the country. So even with the extra cost for a work. It is exXremeVy annoying lor the photographer; who is putting his expertise and creativity at your disposal, to have to compete with friends and family for photography privileges. If others want to photograph the wedding wed-ding party, let them do it after the professional leaves, rather than getting in his way and making it difficult for him to work. When you think about it, it only takes one one-hundredth of a second to take the photographs. The rest of the time is spent moving people around to different poses or chasing would-be photographers away. The photographer needs your undivided attention all the time he is taking your photographs. It is common for flowers to come late, or cakes not be prepared in time for the photographs. Keep in mind that all of these things cut down on the photographers ability to be creative. You owe it to yourselves and the photographer to avoid these situations by planning ahead and seeing that theses problems don't occur with your wedding party. Use your photographer as a counselor to make sure that these thing don't happen to you. some too light and others too dark? And find out if the photographer retouches his photos. Some don't, others fully retouch their photos and even feature enhanced portrait-type retouching. Planning the album While every photographer has his own style of photography, there are basically three ways in which photographs are taken and packaged for final delivery. The Preview Method allows for a set number of photographs to be taken at a reception, usually in increments of 12. The film is processed and finished prints are Photos are priced individually, and decreases per print if a larger number are ordered. The Album Coverage and A la Carte method involve a lot more of the photographer's time and, as a result, seem to be more expensive. However, the finished product is much better than the Preview method. What you pay for A substantial part of the cost of wedding photographs is the price of film, proofs, final pirnts and albums. The rest of the cost is determined by how much time it |
